Thousands Without Power In Westchester Following October Snowstorm

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) —Downed trees are causing widespread problems in hard hit areas of New York as many homes and businesses remain in the dark following the weekend’s unusual October snowstorm.

About 57,000 Con Edison customers are still without power, most of them in Westchester County.

Con Edison crews are working around the clock and hope to have all power restored by Wednesday.

Officials in Lewisboro are urging parents to keep their children home tonight to keep them safe from downed power lines. The town said trick-or-treat activities will be rescheduled.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is advising people to stay off the roads so that crews can clear debris and downed power lines.

“It’s pretty bad,” one resident told CBS 2. “The snow hit so fast and it’s so wet and it knocked down a lot. It compressed a lot of trees and knocked a lot of tree down. The power situation around here and upstate is pretty bad too.

“It’s a drag,” another man said. “We don’t have any power. A couple of months ago we had all the rain, we had no power for three maybe four days; our food went back, we had no compensation. Now the same thing is happening again.”

In the Edgemont section of Greenburgh, residents are cleaning up the mess from the storm.

“You can’t drive a few streets without finding a road closed,” Evan Fleck, who saw whole trees are down in the streets, told WCBS 880’s Sean Adams.”We’re definitely not a priority because it’s one house and the rest of the strip here had electricity. They say they’ll be out here as soon as they can — probably by the end of the week.”

Greenburgh has opened a shelter in a community center since hotels have waiting lists. The town supervisor warns resident to be careful since limbs and branches are dangling by a thread.